Opening Night
by turnitintolove
Summary: But when she catches Santana staring at her from across the stage, sporting a dopey lovesick grin that makes the cast and crew roll their eyes, she figures she'll be fine.  Future fic, sequel to 10 out of 12.


_This is sequel to 10 out of 12. A bit of theatre jargon, sorry if it's confusing at all._

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><p>Four weeks of rehearsals. Two weeks of tech. Three weeks of previews. Hundreds of script changes. A love letter of a review from the New York Times. Opening night. Brittany has been waiting for what feels like her whole life for tonight. Sure, she's worked her proverbial ass off on this show, but tonight is about so much more than remembering her lines, her blocking and choreography. Its about one simple, but major question.<p>

She's talked to the production stage manager, who got the OK from the director (she's pretty sure he only said yes because he's still afraid of Santana). She's talked to the sound guys to make sure her mic will be brought up. She's talked to her assistant dance captain who's going to slip the box into her hand after she's taken her bow. And she's talked to their leading lady, Carla, who will take care of MC-ing the whole thing. She loves the people she works with.

As she puts the final touches of her makeup on, she only hopes that Santana won't put up a fight when Kay, the assistant stage manager gets her to go onstage. Santana doesn't do onstage. Not anymore at least. She's sort of turned into Scooter from The Muppets. But human, and hotter.

_Five minutes. This is your five minute call. Five minutes everyone._

Santana's voice echoes through the dressing rooms, and Brittany can't help the smile that blooms on her face.

"Going to get your girl tonight?" Kirsten, the only other ensemble member who knows asks through a grin. She really only knows because they sit next to each other in the dressing room, and she'd given Brittany a lot of shit until she finally showed her what was in the blue bag.

"I hope so."

"Please, that girl loves you more than she loves being in charge."

Brittany smiles, because yeah, she does. And she may actually be the only thing Santana loves more than being in charge. A minute later, Jermaine, her assistant dance captain pops his head into the dressing room.

"You ready to hand over the bling?"

"Bling? Really? You're calling an engagement ring bling?" Brittany raises her eyebrows at him.

"Fine, you ready to hand over the ring that will change your girlfriend's life? Better?" He sticks out his hand as Brittany pulls the box out of her purse.

"A little. Don't lose it!" She gives the box one last look before placing it in his palm.

"I won't. I promise. You're going to get your girl." He smiles at her one last time before heading down the stairs to the stage.

_Places everyone. This is your places call. Places please._

Santana's voice is calm and Brittany can tell she's smiling. They've both worked really hard on this show. Santana more than most. She's kept the peace between the director and the actors and designers, and well, everyone. Kirsten squeezes Brittany's shoulder as they make their way down the stairs.

Once she makes it on deck, the first thing she sees is Santana. She's in her show blacks, which are probably tighter than they should be. Long hair pulled back and a headset covering her right ear. Brittany stands behind her as Santana counts the company members making their way to the stage for the opening number. She listens as Santana talks quietly and confidently on her headset.

"Hey baby. Happy opening!" Brittany wraps her arms around her small waist, just above her tool belt. Lips pressing under her left ear.

"Mmmm. Happy opening. Go get onstage! I love you." Santana slaps her ass as she tells the production stage manager that they have places and are ready to go.

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><p>All through the show, Brittany keeps stealing glances at Santana as she works. Watching the monitors for automation moves, lighting actors off and into quick changes. Every time Santana catches her, she smiles, even from across the stage. By the time intermission comes, Santana is already busy dealing with the wardrobe supervisor about a broken zipper and a props guy about a fishbowl with too much water in it. (Santana tried to explain that water on a piece of moving scenery was a terrible idea, but no one listened. It did however, result in very awesome stress relief sex.)<p>

By the time places are called for the second act, the zipper has been fixed and the fishbowl has less water, and the giant puddle of water (_dancer doom_ as Brittany would call it) had been cleaned up. Yeah, her girl's awesome like that. Brittany also notices that no one is in tears. She thinks she'll have to reward Santana for that later.

Sometime during the eleven o'clock number, Brittany starts to get nervous. What if Jermaine forgets the ring? What if Santana won't go on stage? What if she says no? But when she catches Santana staring at her from across the stage, sporting a dopey lovesick grin that makes the cast and crew roll their eyes, she figures she'll be fine.

When the music for the curtain call starts up, she's pretty sure her heart is keeping time with the orchestra. She takes her bow, and is sure she can hear her family, Santana's family, and the few members from glee club who made it trying to out cheer/applaud one another. She smiles wider as she tries to find their faces in the sea of people. As the principals take their bows, Jermaine pulls the box from his pocket and hands it to Brittany. Carla turns around and winks before the company takes their final bow for the night.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats for another moment. We want to thank you for being here tonight, but we have a little something extra in store." Carla waits for the audience to settle back down again before continuing, "Everyone you see up here, and the people you don't see backstage, are a family. We work together, we eat together, we do just about everything together. But we would like to acknowledge one of our star players. Someone who without, we probably wouldn't have made it to opening night! Can we get Santana out here?"

From stage right, they can hear Santana very clearly, "No no no no no! I don't go on stage!" Brittany cranes her neck and can see Kay pushing Santana closer to the edge of the stage. She's never been more grateful that Santana is so small. "No no no!" Without skipping a beat, Victor, one of the ensemble members throws Santana over his shoulder and carries her on stage. "So help me god I will end you if you do not put down!" She says it loud enough that even without a mic, the audience can hear her.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our stage manager, Santana Lopez!" Santana turns to face the audience and smiles, but it's a smile that Brittany can tell from her tense shoulders will mean trouble later. "Now, Santana here is not only very feisty and loud," Brittany moves a little closer downstage to where they're standing, "but she's also got a really big heart. That well, really belongs to one person."

Carla steps back and smiles at Brittany as she takes her place next to Santana. "Santana?" She finally notices that Brittany is beside her, and smiles. A real smile. "You are my best friend. You have been since before I can remember. You've just always been around. We were Cheerios together, in New Directions and The Troubletones. You were always in the front row at all of my dance shows, and now I've gotten to see you take care of a whole company of people. You have the biggest heart of anyone I know, and even though you'll deny it, you share it with a lot of people." Brittany's forgotten that she's standing in front of a lot of people. Most of whom she doesn't even know. All she can see is Santana, her strong dark eyes as she listens to Brittany tell the world that she loves her. "I never had to ask you for your heart, I always knew it was mine, and I'm OK with sharing. But there's one other thing that I want to share with you." She pulls out the box and Santana gasps. She thinks she hears her audience do the same thing mixed in with a few 'awwws.' "Marry me?"

Santana is nodding so fast that her headset falls off, left dangling at her side as she launches herself at Brittany. "Yes yes yes!" Each answer is punctuated with a kiss, and she thinks she can hear everyone cheering. She holds Santana close as Carla congratulates them and thanks the audience yet again. They make their way to the dressing rooms to change, where Santana is reluctantly pulled away from Brittany so they can change into their party dresses.

Santana is the first to change and waits on stage next to the ghost light. She hears Brittany's heals clicking and smiles as she meets her in the middle. "I love you. But I have a question for you." Brittany hums as she wraps her arms around Santana's shoulders. "You said you wanted to share _one_ thing with me, what is it?"

Brittany cradles her face between her hands and whispers before she kisses her, "Everything."


End file.
